The Meghalaya government, through the Department of Information and Public Relations, is making plans to introduce legislation that will curb the circulation of fake news and hold those who create it accountable under the law.
This was stated by the IPR Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh in the Assembly today.
The creation and sharing of fake news is a global problem in the age of social media and has been almost impossible for governments to get a grip on.
Meanwhile, Lyngdoh also spent time talking about a subject dear to journalists’ hearts – their own welfare.
Replying to a question from South Shillong MLA Sanbor Shullai regarding the perks available to journalists, Lyngdoh said that the Journalists Welfare Scheme of 2009 is somewhat outdated. The government is looking at updating it to include a corpus of Rs 35 lakh for aid for journalists. Under this Rs 5 lakh (up from the existing Rs 1 lakh) would be given as financial assistance for the family of deceased journalists and journalists requiring medical care could claim Rs 3 lakh (up from Rs 50,000) in financial aid.
The government is also considering paying journalists a pension on retirement and even providing housing to them. However, she ruled out a stipend for working journalists as they are private employees but added that journalists should be paid not less than Rs 15,000 a month, which many do not get at present.
